The Rivers State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has condemned in very strong terms, Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s penchant for plunging the state into debt by always resorting to external sources for funds needed to run government projects.
ACN, in a statement signed by its publicity secretary noted with dismay that while the federal government is making frantic efforts to disentangle itself from accumulated debts over the years which constituted a cog in the wheel of the nation’s economic development, Gov. Amaechi continues to take delight in the outdated and ignoble policy.
Jerry Needam said the ACN was yet to come to terms with Amaechi’s logic of preferring external loans to billions of naira accrued to the state from the federal allocation and internally generated revenue to address his capital projects.
“We see no reason for the loans at all considering the amount of money that he receives monthly. If accessing external loans is the best option, why have other states much poorer than Rivers State not rushed to the capital market for such loans. Whichever way you look at it, it is better to confine yourself to what you have to create what you need,” Jerry Needam reasoned.
The ACN spokesman said the only rationale behind this penchant for loans is the opportunity it provides for the exponents to benefit from it and cannot be doing so in the interest of Rivers people.
By his calculation, Jerry said between 2008 and 2013, Gov Chibuike Amaechi had collected loans well over N500 billion which he said was “mortgaging the future of the state”.
“No nation has ever lived on loans and survived it,” the party noted.
The ACN also criticised the State House of Assembly for being a willing tool for the approval of this slavery, describing them as equally hoodwinked.
”If the previous loans were taken for completion of projects and other infrastructure that is always given as the reason, what is the reason for the N120b”, Jerry Needam queried.
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